Desert Dawg
Well-Known Member
I previously posted in the general discussion thread but thought I would share it here as this brief adventure really reinforced why I am looking to go "Round-3" on dialing in a suspension system that will meet my needs.
I usually go up to the mountains not far from my home to cut dead wood about twice a year. I have had the Ram for over a year and a half now but this is the first time I took it for wood hauling. Of course, I have taken the Rebel off-road many times, but not with a full load in the bed.
I estimated that most of my load was pine with some measure of fir and birch thrown in so I used a lower averaged density of 30 lbs./cu.ft. with about 85% of the capped truck bed being filled (.85 x 5 ’x 3’ x 5.5’ = 70 cu.ft.) for a total haul of ~2100 lbs. The Rebel is rated at 1930 lbs. of payload capacity, so when I add in the weight of the topper and gear that I typically haul around with me (~300 lbs.), and myself (~230 lbs.), I figured I was pushing over 2600 lbs. or +700 lbs. overcapacity. Not the best scenario but the Rebel did very well. The stiffer Dirt Logic front coilovers really helped maintain control and the rear factory springs actually did very well too with all things considered (the rear definitely sagged but did not bottomed out). Still, I’ll need to really be careful once I add my winch and mounting hardware as that will greatly reduce my capacity even more.
But made it home in one piece so I get to share some of the views (with the Ram of course):
What I did experience was exactly how the Dirt Logics are tuned. Both when tackling the slow boulder/rock climb of the lower section for Engineer Pass and then the slow mountain trail comprised of long, washboard sections experienced during this trip, the truck rode horribly as the Dirt Logics are really tuned for fast speed runs (i.e., desert washes and trails). On the slower stuff, the Dirt Logics are just too stiff and really beat you up! I sort of knew this of course but was very interesting to see how the Dirt Kings responded on the washboard sections. Kind of reminded me of the Icons I ran except on a couple of prior builds but even those were smooth in comparison. So really hoping to decide on what I am going to do with this Rebel next as I get ready to tackle another mountain pass soon.
I usually go up to the mountains not far from my home to cut dead wood about twice a year. I have had the Ram for over a year and a half now but this is the first time I took it for wood hauling. Of course, I have taken the Rebel off-road many times, but not with a full load in the bed.
I estimated that most of my load was pine with some measure of fir and birch thrown in so I used a lower averaged density of 30 lbs./cu.ft. with about 85% of the capped truck bed being filled (.85 x 5 ’x 3’ x 5.5’ = 70 cu.ft.) for a total haul of ~2100 lbs. The Rebel is rated at 1930 lbs. of payload capacity, so when I add in the weight of the topper and gear that I typically haul around with me (~300 lbs.), and myself (~230 lbs.), I figured I was pushing over 2600 lbs. or +700 lbs. overcapacity. Not the best scenario but the Rebel did very well. The stiffer Dirt Logic front coilovers really helped maintain control and the rear factory springs actually did very well too with all things considered (the rear definitely sagged but did not bottomed out). Still, I’ll need to really be careful once I add my winch and mounting hardware as that will greatly reduce my capacity even more.
But made it home in one piece so I get to share some of the views (with the Ram of course):
What I did experience was exactly how the Dirt Logics are tuned. Both when tackling the slow boulder/rock climb of the lower section for Engineer Pass and then the slow mountain trail comprised of long, washboard sections experienced during this trip, the truck rode horribly as the Dirt Logics are really tuned for fast speed runs (i.e., desert washes and trails). On the slower stuff, the Dirt Logics are just too stiff and really beat you up! I sort of knew this of course but was very interesting to see how the Dirt Kings responded on the washboard sections. Kind of reminded me of the Icons I ran except on a couple of prior builds but even those were smooth in comparison. So really hoping to decide on what I am going to do with this Rebel next as I get ready to tackle another mountain pass soon.
Edit: Corrected calculations
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